Silicon and materials containing silicon are used for a variety of electronic applications including semiconductors and other electronic devices, and also in technologies such as microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), and Integrated Micromechanical Systems-on-a-Chip. Due to the excellent semiconductive properties of silicon, silicon has been utilized extensively in various electronics industries. Such extensive use has lead to the development of silicon processing methods such as photolithography and other patterning techniques which allow precision processing and fabrication of microscale silicon structures. These techniques are now additionally being employed to form silicon devices such as, for example, microengines. However, silicon has relatively poor mechanical properties, and has little wear resistance and corrosion resistance relative to other materials such as some metallic materials. Technology has yet to be developed for the patterning of metal materials on the microscale size level with the precision which silicon processing occurs.
Steel is a metallic alloy which can have exceptional strength characteristics, and which is commonly utilized in structures where strength is required or advantageous, such as in the skeletal support of building structures, tools, engine components, and protective shielding. The internal structure (microstructure) of conventional steel alloys is always metallic and polycrystalline (consisting of many crystalline grains). More recently, steel alloys have been developed which can attain an amorphous microstructure, referred to as metallic glass. The metallic glass can in turn be treated to “devitrify” the glass and thereby form a crystalline structure which can, in some instances, be nanocrystalline (having crystal grains on the order of 10−9 meters).
The particular alloy composition generally determines whether the alloy will solidify to form microcrystalline grain structures or amorphous glass. Conventional steels having microcrystalline grain structure can be produced to have a high hardness, although an increased hardness can be accompanied by a decrease in toughness utilizing conventional steel processing methods. Amorphous glass steel materials can be produced which can have exceptionally high strength and hardness. Additionally, amorphous steel can be devitrified to produce materials having nanocrystalline grains, and having an increased hardness relative to the glass. Further, nanocrystalline steel materials formed by devitrification of metallic glass can be produced which can achieve an increased hardness without a corresponding loss of toughness.
The steel materials discussed above have high strength, and are highly resistant to wear and corrosion, relative to silicon materials. It is desirable to develop methods of coating silicon materials with steel materials and methods of metallizing silicon surfaces.